Channel: Organizing & Bargaining
700 Oklahoma AFSCME Members Win First Contract and More Bargaining News
Some 700 AFSCME members in two Oklahoma cites won first contracts and more news from "Bargaining Digest Weekly." The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 900 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
Settlements
AFSCME, Enid & Lawton, Okla.: Some 700 municipal workers in Enid and Lawton, Okla., represented by AFSCME locals 1136 and 3894, respectively, won first contracts, after the passage of a 2004 state law that requires cities of 35,000 people or more to recognize non-uniformed workers’ unions. Enid’s employees won a 12 percent across-the-board wage increase over the duration. The Lawton employees’ new contract includes a 3 percent wage hike through 2009 and improved benefits.
Atlantic City Casino Workers Fighting for First Contracts
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Despite overwhelming votes by workers at four Atlantic City casinos in favor of forming a union with UAW, management at the four casinos continue to stall and delay negotiations to avoid granting the nearly 4,000 workers a voice at work.
At a press conference last week, New Jersey State AFL-CIO President Charles Wowkanech said:
The casino dealers and slot technicians fight to organize and management’s opposition to the workers’ freedom to form a union clearly illustrates that the current system for establishing a union in America is broken and is skewed in favor of employers. It is a system that is in desperate need of reform and thousands of workers in Atlantic City are unfortunately victims of this failed system.
Since March 2007, a majority of casino dealers, dual-rate dealers and other workers at Caesars, Tropicana, Bally’s and Trump Plaza in Atlantic City have voted in favor of UAW representation. Bargaining is under way at Caesars and Tropicana; the union at Bally’s has just been certified; and Trump Plaza is still trying to delay certification before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
New Bill Would Allow Graduate Assistants to Join a Union
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The folks who teach a lot of college undergraduate classes, grade the papers and do much of the same work as full-time teachers could soon catch a break and get paid what they deserve.
The two chairmen of the congressional education committees—Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.)—have introduced a bill that would include graduate teaching and research assistants at private colleges and universities as employees under the National Labor Relations Act, which would give them the freedom to join a union.
The Teaching and Research Assistant Collective Bargaining Rights Act (H.R. 5838 and S. 2891) could overturn a 2004 ruling by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that university graduate assistants are not employees and are not protected by the National Labor Relations Act.
AFSCME Wins Food Service Outsourcing Fight at University of California–Davis
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Kevin Christensen, lead researcher in the AFL-CIO Center for Strategic Research, writes about a great victory for food service workers and custodians with AFSCME at the University of California-Davis.
AFSCME Local 3299 has won a four-year fight to end outsourcing of food service work in the 10-campus University of California (UC) system, after UC-Davis announced last week that nearly 200 workers currently employed by Sodexho will be eligible to apply for university employment, and so become AFSCME members.
Newsrooms Shrinking as Publishers Race to Bottom Line
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Are you tired of reading about which celebrity is having a baby or who was eliminated from “Dancing With the Stars” in your daily newspaper—while critical issues like plunging wages and the rising cost of feeding a family is pushed to back pages? One big reason is there are fewer journalists around to write the news. The Project for Excellence in Journalism reported last month that newsroom staffs have been cut 7 percent overall since 2000, with some slashed as much as 40 percent.
The union movement has argued for years that increased consolidation of media ownership is leading to a lack of diversity and quality in the gathering and reporting of news. As more newspapers—facing stiff competition from TV and online news services—cut back on newsroom staff and coverage, the news quality likely will continue to deteriorate as hard news loses out in favor of covering celebrities.
Resurrection Health Care Faces Prosecution over Back Pay
After four years of stalling, delays and appeals, Resurrection Health Care system may finally have to pay back wages to 64 employees. This week, the Illinois Department of Labor forwarded the employees’ wage complaint to the state’s attorney general for prosecution. The Labor Department previously ruled that Resurrection owes $381,000 in back wages to the employees, who work in the Home Health Services division.
The workers filed complaints with the state Labor Department in 2003 charging the chain’s “fee-for-visit” system consistently failed to pay them for hours worked beyond their normal schedule. Resurrection Health Care is the second-largest health care system in the Chicago metropolitan area and the largest Catholic health care system in Illinois.
New Report Shows True Cost of Shrimp to Workers
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Tasty shrimp comes with a high price tag—and in the $13 billion seafood processing industry, workers pay it. In a report released today, the Solidarity Center documents child labor, beatings and torture, sweatshop wages and hazardous working conditions in shrimp processing plants in Bangladesh and Thailand. Those two countries export $4 billion worth of shrimp sold in U.S. retail stores and restaurants such as Wal-Mart, Costco, Sysco, Harris Teeter, IGA, Trader Joe’s, Cub Foods, Giant, Long John Silver’s and Red Lobster.
The study, The True Cost of Shrimp, compares the abuses in the shrimp industry to sweatshop conditions in the apparel industry. Click here to read or download the report.
Every year, Americans eat more than 450,000 tons of shrimp, about three pounds for every man, woman and child in the country. Eighty percent of that shrimp is imported, with one-third coming from Thailand.
Gas Workers in New Mexico, Firefighters in Alabama and More Join AFL-CIO Unions
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Gas and electric utility workers in New Mexico and Arkansas, firefighters in Alabama, call center workers in Iowa, sports television employees in Minnesota and mechanics in California are among the latest workers to win a union voice at work.
In New Mexico, some 262 gas workers at Public Service New Mexico are now members of the Electrical Workers (IBEW) after voting to join IBEW Local 611. With the pending sale of the gas division to new owners with a track record of outsourcing work and cutting costs, workers turned to the union. As soon as they did, the new owner, Continental Energy Corp., turned to union-busters.
UAW and American Axle Deep in Contract Talks and More Bargaining News
The UAW and American Axle & Manufacturing (AAM) continue negotiations for some 3,600 workers, and more news from "Bargaining Digest Weekly." The AFL-CIO Collective Bargaining Department delivers daily bargaining-related news and research resources to more than 900 subscribers. Union leaders can register for this service through our website, Bargaining@Work.
Work Stoppages
UAW Local 730, General Motors: The UAW has called off a rally scheduled in support of the 3,600 striking workers at five American Axle plants in Michigan and New York, citing progress in talks with the auto supplier.
Casino Workers Win Election Ruling at Bally’s
Thanks to Roger Kerson of the UAW for letting us know about the victory of Bally’s Atlantic City casino workers who are seeking a better life by joining a union. Bally’s had appealed the workers’ decision to join UAW to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Here is UAW’s announcement of the win:
A rally by community leaders to support collective bargaining rights for dealers and other casino workers turned into an impromptu victory celebration Wednesday when the NLRB confirmed a June 2007 election victory at Bally’s and certified the UAW as the union chosen by full- and part-time dealers, keno and simulcast workers.
“This is great news!” said Chun Zhu, a dealer at Bally’s.
